Praying Mantis on a Hummingbird Feeder

I was washing dishes and saw this little praying mantis on one of the hummingbird feeders. Try as I might, I could not get a good clear image of the mantid.

At one point, Cas thought he was sleeping – but I told her I thought it was watching us… just about then, it turned it’s head from facing one of us, to the other. As if he was listening to us talk.

I didn’t think much of it visiting the hummingbird feeder, other than it may help keep the little buggies and bees from getting into the nectar. Then I happened across this post about a mantis making a meal out of a hummingbird – ouch! I think this one is too small, at roughly 2.5-3″ long… so I hope I don’t witness any hummingbird murders.

We can’t really figure how he got to the feeder – it would be a stretch, I’m sure he could make… And I figure it probably “fluttered” there, but just to be helpful, I hung a plant nearby in hopes it would find shelter there. I do have another mantid (brown in color) homing in a spider plant.. I’ve watched it grow from about an inch, to now close to 2 inches or slightly more.

Then, a visit to a friends blog and I see this great photo of a walking stick. The last time I saw a walking stick I think I was about 16… it’s been ages! Take a visit to The Impaitient Gardener to see the walking stick… but don’t leave too quickly.. there are plenty of beautiful pictures to see… take a walk through her garden.

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3 Comments

Hey!!!
I haven’t seen a praying mantis for as many years as you have not seen a stick bug!!!! Cool eh? I look on the brick wall outside our mudroom door to see what is there every morning. I leave the outside light on all night due to pitch darkness, so it attracts quite a variety of bugs during this month. I can always guarantee several sticks bugs.

love your site..was drawn by little boxes but stayed to look around!
loved hearing about the praying mantises(Mantisi?)i have had in 3 weeks two encounters..both in downtown Pittsburgh Pa..the first was at around 2 in the morning(that’s when i take a “walk” with my boss we were paused at a red light and on a potted plant was a large green phase i was(of course happily) teasing my boss about the huge bug(she is terrified) and called to it with a finger out for it to see…but mama mantis cocked her head back and forth and slowly walked towards my finger…boss screamed and ran. About a week or so(i clean a corp building..time has little meaning at 2 in the morning..we were outside smoking a.. cig and one flew by my head and landed on Jen’s shoulder..i thought i would have to call 911, but put it in a safe bush well away from my boss…wish i would have had a camera!
thought you might enjoy!

It’s funny, we are lucky if we see one every summer – though our yard is really huge… But we always get excited when we do. This year, we had the pleasure of a very large dragonfly – in our house, of all places. He (we know this because of the “pincher-like” claspers at his tail) was about 3 inches long (huge! at least in our eyes at the time, but truly, I’ve not seen one so big) and he patiently let us photograph him. We didn’t realize how patient he was being until I got him on a piece of paper and took him outside. He let me continue snapping pictures from this angle and that, all while I held the paper up close to the camera lens. When I finally put the camera down, I waited for him to take flight.. but it wasn’t until I told him to go on, I was done, that he left. He was probably studying us as much as we were him.